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I haven't read the manga (not looking for spoilers), but I swear the fact for 4 members taking the Chihayafuru card was meant to be pretty significant, wasn't it?
If I recall, Kanade mentioned something about being able to take the their friend's favored cards faster than their opponents so they're all part of Chihaya's harem.

I chuckled a little thinking that Harada should have given the opposite advice, that he gave to Taichi, to Chihaya (ie. "a team match is a team match").

The best part of the episode had to be when Chihaya and Taichi start practising attacking the opponents side. So good.

As for Arata...haha, the author is truly cruel. For every development Taichi gets, Arata advances another step forward.
I guess the author wants to make the point that the bar must keep going up in order to become stronger (both in Karuta and relationships)?

I think the whole concept of having fun even though you lost is a beautiful concept.

Yes! There is the peculiar pleasure of playing an intense match, in an unusual situation, which Chihaya loves, and which is why she loves karuta. Really, Chihaya is a romantic, dedicated to living her life passionately, with total dedication, and giving herself completely to the experience of the moment.

The other concept that comes up is strength: Sudo's question about whether Hokuo is the strongest team and Amakasu's honest reply tells us another quality that matters beyond the plain fact of winning. If fun is for the present moment, strength is for the journey: victory gives a snapshot of where you are now, but strength lets you know where you will get to. So all the new players end up taking Chihaya's lead and start up with the Shiranami society immediately. Mizusawa is getting stronger.

All the same, Mizusawa needs to learn to play strategically. And they need to pay attention to each other. Chihaya can't ignore everything the way she did. Taichi needs to get back to leading the team. Mizusawa lost as a team--people played as individuals and didn't take on team roles. I give Sumire credit for scouting out Hokuo: she at least was thinking as a team member.

I'm pretty sure that the upbeat track that played when the tide turned and the team was making its comeback was a new track.

I think so, too. When it began playing I ransacked my memory and don't recall ever hearing it before. I think the soundtrack for this show is a bit under-appreciated, but perhaps that is because the plot and characterizations are so strong they overwhelm our ability to notice things like music and artwork.

Quote:

Originally Posted by garbage

great Kana win ^^, it was a very very quick flash of the three matches before it settled on Chihaya's, but you can see there kana won, tsutomo didn't,too bad oh well, understandable though since it was on the opponents side. Hokuo DID get the luck of the draw 2 vs 1, with Amakasu & Tsutomu's opponent getting their "home side " cards, while Kana got the split.

The image for Tsutomu's match is puzzling. It looks as though his opponent won the card on Desk-kun's side of the board, reaching across as Chihaya and Taichi were practicing. Kana simply covered hers for the win.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blaat

Heh, I was more like thinking Hokuo disproves Harada's advice their team tactic was excellent at the end.

That's a good insight, Blaat. It was obvious that Hokuo had already discussed strategies like this one and that Mizusawa had not. It's another aspect to karuta we haven't seen before, and one that makes it even more interesting. The lesson they showed to explain the situation was very helpful, too.

The situation of four "luck-of-the-draw" matches in five plays must be pretty uncommon. Here we can trace the outcome back to Retro's decision to match up the players by strength. (By the way, how did he manage to do this without knowing Mizusawa's order in advance?) The binomial probability of winning exactly 13 out of 25 cards, which I think is the situation depicted here, where both players have an equal chance of winning each card is about 0.15. That makes the probability of having four last-card matches equal to 0.15^4, or about one in every 2,000 events. (Not the right calculation; see below.)

I just watched the video Kirarakim posted and thought Kana-chan would love to attend that second event that appears to take place in a shrine with all the traditional outfits and practices.

I think so, too. When it began playing I ransacked my memory and don't recall ever hearing it before. I think the soundtrack for this show is a bit under-appreciated, but perhaps that is because the plot and characterizations are so strong they overwhelm our ability to notice things like music and artwork.

Oh I love the OST and I think it was much stronger than any of the ones that actually made it through the Anime Suki Choice awards this year.

I often listen to the OST when I am working, it helps me get motivated. Team Chihayafuru is an especially favorite track of mine.

The image for Tsutomu's match is puzzling. It looks as though his opponent won the card on Desk-kun's side of the board, reaching across as Chihaya and Taichi were practicing. Kana simply covered hers for the win.

I just rewatched that scene (and I understood why I missed it the first time around, it's really fast) and Tsutomu's opponent reached for his card on his own side. It looks weird because he used his right hand to get a card that was positioned to the left.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

The situation of four "luck-of-the-draw" matches in five plays must be pretty uncommon. Here we can trace the outcome back to Retro's decision to match up the players by strength. (By the way, how did he manage to do this without knowing Mizusawa's order in advance?) The binomial probability of winning exactly 13 out of 25 cards, which I think is the situation depicted here, where both players have an equal chance of winning each card is about 0.15. That makes the probability of having four last-card matches equal to 0.15^4, or about one in every 2,000 events.

He guessed it with his Retrot cards. It's magic, don't worry about it.

I had the same feelings: I was shaking with excitement for much of the match. That was so awesome!! I was expecting the result that we got, but it could not have been closer. I LOVE THIS SERIES!!! I can't wait to be able to pre-order the first Blu-ray.

I don't know if any of the current series (or even many past ones) has me as absorbed in it as Chihayafuru, and I love how the episodes might be a little longer than usual (I haven't done calculations, though ^^; ), since the OP is only 1 minute, rather than 1.5, and I think that the ED is shorter, too. No time wasted with a preview, either.

That is an excellent episode. I read the manga so I know who wins the match a couple weeks ago, yet I find the match intense and I feel it is only 10 min in when Chihaya texting Arata. That is what I call great execution.

__________________

They came first for sharks fin,I didn't speak up because I don't eat sharks fin.
Then they came for foie gras,I didn't speak up because I don't eat foie gras.
Then they came for Toro (bluefin tuna) sushi,I didn't speak up because I don't eat sushi.
Then they came for me and force me to be a vegan by that time no one was left to speak up.

I just rewatched that scene (and I understood why I missed it the first time around, it's really fast) and Tsutomu's opponent reached for his card on his own side. It looks weird because he used his right hand to get a card that was positioned to the left.

I see that now. I had to move back and forth over that sequence a few times to see what happens. Crunchy's player unfortunately doesn't seem to have slow motion or a frame-by-frame viewer. Took a few tries to see Kana's move.

Quote:

He guessed it with his Retrot cards. It's magic, don't worry about it.

Well, if we're letting magic come into play in Chihayafuru, then let's talk about Chihaya's sudden preternatural ability to anticipate cards before they are read. She said something to the effect of hearing the words before they are spoken. Are we to take this at face value, or is it magic?

I see that now. I had to move back and forth over that sequence a few times to see what happens. Crunchy's player unfortunately doesn't seem to have slow motion or a frame-by-frame viewer. Took a few tries to see Kana's move.

Well, if we're letting magic come into play in Chihayafuru, then let's talk about Chihaya's sudden preternatural ability to anticipate cards before they are read. She said something to the effect of hearing the words before they are spoken. Are we to take this at face value, or is it magic?

No, I think she just hears very subtle differences (in the way the reader takes breath, or reads a syllable) that give clues on what the next syllable's going to be.

There are two other matches going on in this video but with my lack of Japanese I could not understand what they were.

What was nice is saying that everyone can play you see a younger child playing in one of the tournaments. The camera focuses on her a few time.

The Queen in the video (girl in yellow kimono) is the longest reigning queen and the most youngest when she first won the crown at 15. She was featured in an episode of Begin Japanology that features Karuta. She's really good and can easily play it with cards covered. That episode was a couple of years ago, never realized she's still tops.

No, I think she just hears very subtle differences (in the way the reader takes breath, or reads a syllable) that give clues on what the next syllable's going to be.

I know that is what she says she is doing, but in this episode she seems to intuit the card solely on the basis of how the reader takes a breath before even beginning to read. First, if readers were that obvious, you'd think they would be trained to avoid making tell-tale sounds. True this reader was a relative novice so he might have been easier for Chihaya to read. Then there is the whole business of cards having similar openings. You would think the reader's breathing would be similar in those cases as well and non-predictive. The whole idea still seems like magic to me.

The scene at the beginning when Chihaya anticipates the card we see Shinobu portrayed as she looked in the Queen match. I suddenly realized that she has lost all that weight. If anything, she looks nearly anorexic when she is talking on the phone at the end of episode three.